My Hero Academia Interview: The Villains Take Control and Answers Our Question
My Hero Academia is winding down with season five, but the show isn't slowing its pace. If you are keeping up with the hit anime, you will know the villains are living loud right now as the My Villain Academia arc is underway. For once, all the best baddies like Shigaraki and Toga are getting their due on camera. And to help spread the gospel, ComicBook.com spoke with a handful of stars from My Hero Academia's English dub.
Not long ago, we spoke with Jason Liebrecht (Dabi), Leah Clark (Toga) Eric Vale (Shigaraki), and Sonny Strait (Redestro). The group was down to chat about their experience with season five. And yes, Liebrecht wants to know more about Dabi just like the rest of us.
When speaking with the actor, Liebrecht made it clear he loves the mystery that comes with Dabi, and the character is in his wheelhouse thanks to his dark aesthetic. While keeping things hush-hush, Liebrecht went on to say Dabi's work with Hawks has him on edge, and he hopes this partnership will give us more info on Dabi's mysterious origins.
The same goes for Vale given the actor's history with Shigaraki. My Hero Academia season five has challenged the villain directly. As the show wraps for the fall, the actor is confident fans will get the answers they want about Shigaraki's history, and they will help differentiate the villain from others before him.
"In a lot of media, you have villains or bad guys that you don't understand why they're bad or any satisfying reasoning for that. I know that the reasoning for that in this story is satisfying, and it is always fun to watch people understand the bad guy."
As for Toga, well - Clark learned plenty about the villain's past in season five. The actress told ComicBook.com she is very excited to have a villain-centric arc hit the My Hero Academia anime, and Toga's recent power boost is the product of serious off-screen training. Now, Clark is excited to see where Toga's antics go next as she is working with a seriously dangerous new power.
Clearly, plenty of the cast got to learn some big information about their villains, but none had a learning curve like Sonny Strait. The veteran voice actor made his My Hero Academia debut this season with Redestro, a new villain with power that wants Shigaraki out of his way. During our chat, the actor said he was thrilled to tackle the role as it was more outside of his wheelhouse, and Redestro gave him plenty to work with.
"I don't get to play a lot of villains," he said. "I think because I am such a goof I get cast as goofballs. To play something with this kind of character is exciting. He's not just a two-dimensional, mustache-twirling kind of guy. He's conflicted and emotional. He has points of view in life that don't go together... and he justifies it. I just love characters like that."
As you can imagine, the future for these baddies is up in the air, and My Hero Academia isn't done beefing them up. The manga has made that much apparent in the last year, so anime fans are in for a wild ride as season six hopefully gets green-lit soon. So if you are dying to see more of these villains, well - you won't have to look hard for much longer.
What do you think about My Hero Academia season five? Which arc has been your favorite so far? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
